Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (28 page)

‘How can I be sure?’

‘You know me. Look into my eyes; I am not going to hurt
you.’

Emmy
could see Lucy’s resolve
begin to waver. She could not afford to take any chances so she wrenched the
flashlight from Charlie’s hand and staggered toward the Aboriginal man. Without
giving him any time to defend himself or plead for mercy, she clubbed him over
the back of the head. His body crumpled to the floor and landed beside that of
Bradley.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked Lucy.

The girl nodded whilst looking back at
Emmy
in stunned awe. Charlie caught up with them and squatted down to check the
fallen man’s pulse.

‘He’s alive...just,’ he said, not attempting to hide the
disdain in his voice. ‘If you had hit him any harder, he would be dead.’

‘He already is,’ she replied, coldly. ‘I would wager
anything that was
Armareth
. I was warned he had
killed again. Somehow, he found a way back – a way to possess Sammy. It has to
be because of this strange mist I was told about.’

‘And what about Sammy?’ asked Charlie. ‘Say you are right
and this is
Armareth
. Where does that leave Sammy? He
could still be in there, for all we know.’

She inwardly cursed her own selfish stupidity, but she could
not afford to dwell on ifs and buts for too long. The unconscious man would
soon wake and when he did, they had to make sure that he was incapable of
inflicting any more harm. She undid the stricken man’s belt and used it to
tightly bind his hands behind his back. She asked Charlie to give up his belt
too, so that they could also secure the man’s legs. Once they were certain he
was not going anywhere,
Emmy
and Lucy went back to
call Lucas whilst Charlie watched over the bodies. It was only a matter of time
before Mike found out and
Emmy
tried not to
contemplate how the captain was going to take the news of his friend’s death.

Chapter 31

‘Where is he?’ asked Lucas.

‘Charlie and Lucy are watching over him,’ replied
Emmy
. ‘He’s restrained so he cannot do them any harm.
They’re more concerned about keeping Mike away from him.’

‘And what about the body?’

‘It’s still where we found it. We covered it, of course, but
I didn’t want to disturb a crime scene.’

‘If what you say is correct; the killer has been caught red
handed. I will get the doc to run some tests when I get Sammy back to the station.
Hopefully, this will provide a link with Walter and the other murders.’

Judging by her reaction, Lucas sensed that
Emmy
was holding something back. Her response to her
grandfather’s murder had been a mixture of shock and grief. This time she
appeared more resigned, as if she expected it.

‘What aren’t you telling me?’ he asked.

‘If you’re trying to link this to what Wally did or any
other problems that you’re having in town; you are going to be disappointed.’

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Sammy didn’t do it. It was David
Armareth
.
First he killed Pops, then he killed Bradley and if we had not stopped him, any
one of us could have been next.’

‘
Emmy
, David
Armareth
is dead. You have to let him go or...’

He saw somebody pass by the doorway that led onto the main
corridor. It was not anybody that he recognised.

‘Or what?’ asked
Emmy
.

‘Huh?’

‘Or what?
You were talking and
suddenly stopped mid-sentence. I want to know what you were going to say.’

He looked at her, blankly.

‘Is anybody else here?’ he asked.

‘No, it’s just me and you. Can you see anybody else?’

‘I mean at the observatory. Has anybody else come?’

‘Like who? Apart from Charlie and I, there is only Mike and
Lucy.’

He turned away from her and started walking towards the doorway.
When he was in the corridor he heard a noise coming from the kitchen. He
withdrew his gun and edged toward the door. When he was right next to it he
spun around and pointed his weapon directly into the room.

‘Freeze!’ he shouted.

The cacophonic sound of breaking glass echoed around the
room. Mike raised his hands, but in anger rather than submission as he saw that
it was Lucas who had caused him to drop the whisky bottle.

‘Jesus, Lucas, it’s more customary to knock, you know.’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t recognise you. I couldn’t afford to
take any chances.’

‘What’s going on?’ asked
Emmy
, as
she entered the room. ‘Is that Pops’ whisky on the floor?’

‘It belongs to the roaches now,’ Mike told her, before
purposefully brushing into Lucas as he walked out.

‘That guy is really starting to tick me off,’ said Lucas.

‘He has that effect on us all,’ replied
Emmy
.
‘He has just lost his friend, though. It’s best if we just leave him to do
whatever he needs to do.’

‘He’s too unstable. A man on the edge like that cannot be in
charge of anything. Have you heard when his relief is coming yet?’

‘Relief?’

‘You know; more soldiers. If the military are now in control
of this facility they have to send a team in to follow up on the murders.’

‘I
dunno
- I just assumed he had
dealt with all of that.’

Lucas sighed.

‘I thought scientists never assumed anything. When I get
back to the station, I’ll find the number and give his base a call. In the
meantime, I want you to steer well clear of Mike.’

‘That won’t be a problem, believe me.’

He helped her clear up the mess from the broken bottle and
then she took him to where Sammy was being held. Both Lucy and Charlie looked
relieved to see him with
Emmy
.

‘I’ll take things from here,’ he told them. ‘We’ll get him
straight into the truck and I’ll question him in the morning.’

‘What about me?’ asked
Lucy.

‘That’s up to you,’ Lucas replied. ‘It may be safer if you
all come back to the station though.’

He glanced at
Emmy
in order to
remind her of their earlier conversation regarding Mike.

‘I’m staying,’
Emmy
told him. ‘I
need to keep busy and my work is here.’

‘I should stay too,’ said Charlie. ‘We’re a team.’

‘Well, I really need at least one of you back at the
station. Not only to give a statement about Sammy, but I also need some help
with the cases that I am working on. The doctor is running tests as we speak
and I expect him to find some sort of chemical in all of the killers as well as
a large part of the population as a whole. It is connected to some research
Professor Fox was undertaking on my behalf, which began with a snake attack.’

‘It’s best if I go with you,’ said Charlie. ‘I helped the
professor run those tests. I just need a few minutes to gather together the
data.’

‘What about you?’ Lucas asked Lucy. ‘You’re more than
welcome to have your room back.’

She looked at
Emmy
before
answering.

‘If it’s okay with you, I would rather stay here. Maybe I
can help Dr Rayne with her work.’

‘I’d like that,’ added
Emmy
,
before Lucas even had a chance to respond.

The four of them then carried the still unconscious
Aboriginal man to Lucas’ truck. Whilst Charlie went back for his research, the
policeman grabbed his camera and went with
Emmy
to
see Bradley’s body. He took the necessary photographs of the crime scene and
then wrapped the corpse and moved it indoors where dingoes could not get to it.
Unlike with the previous bodies, he would leave the autopsy and internment
arrangements to Mike and his superiors when they eventually arrived.

***

‘Why didn’t you go with them?’ asked
Emmy
.

They were both now in
Emmy’s
quarters. It was getting late and for security reasons, they agreed it would be
safer to share a room.

‘You already know why,’ replied Lucy.

‘If you leave, he will still be with you.’

‘I know, but it is not the same. I mean, you actually saw
him.’

As the words left her lips she felt a shiver run up her
spine. She glanced around the room, wondering where he was. It was the first
time she had really taken any notice of her surroundings. She always thought of
scientists as being middle to old aged men with bushy beards.
Emmy
could not be farther from that stereotype. Although it
was not a girly room (the colour scheme did not contain a trace of pink), it
undoubtedly belonged to a female. There was a dressing table with a modest
selection of beauty products, a shelf holding several volumes of feminist
literature alongside the expected science fiction classics, and not a
microscope or chemistry kit in sight.

‘You must have been really close,’ said
Emmy
.

‘We were,’ replied Lucy. ‘Although I don’t think that is
really unusual. What little girl doesn’t love her daddy?’

Emmy
briefly looked away, probably
to disguise her hurt. If Lucy could take the words back, she would.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘That’s okay. I know you didn’t mean anything bad by it.’

In the silence that followed, both women gazed at the
photograph of
Armareth
with Felicity Fox, which lay
on top of the bedside cabinet.

‘Do you think that
...’

‘No,’ said
Emmy
, cutting her off.
‘My father was George Rayne and he was a good man. I don’t know how
Armareth
knew my mother, but I am sure any relationship
that may have existed between she and him was purely in his head.’

Lucy knew it was best not to continue the conversation down
this line. She liked
Emmy
and wanted to get to know
her better, but she sensed something more than simple grief simmering under the
scientist’s surface. Although she did a good job of covering it up, it was
clear that
Emmy
had suffered a lot of hurt in the
past.

‘Tell me about Lucas,’ Lucy said. ‘You guys seem pretty
close. What’s the history there?’

Emmy
leaned back on her bed,
making
herself
comfortable.

‘Lucas is a good friend. He’s as small town as they come,
but at the same time he is still capable of keeping an open mind. About a year
ago, when I returned from
uni
, I became the target of
a hate campaign by some local trolls and Lucas was the only person in the town
that offered me any kind of support. Even Pops chose to turn a blind eye to
what was going on.’

‘What sort of hate campaign; did you offend the local Jesus
Freaks with some big scientific theory or something?’

‘Something is closer to the mark. That something was my
girlfriend; Toni.’ She indicated for Lucy to look at a small framed picture on
the dresser. ‘It started with whispering behind our backs wherever we went.
Then my car was vandalised with some not particularly creative graffiti and
that was soon followed by threats of violence. Lucas made a couple of arrests
and somehow managed to persuade the town to keep its opinions to itself, but I
have never felt comfortable going back there. That night when we met in the Sly
Fox was the first time I had been to that pub in a year and will also be the
last. Sadly, nothing has changed.’

‘Oh,’ said Lucy. ‘I didn’t realise. I mean, there is nothing
wrong with it, I just,
er
...

‘It’s okay; there is no reason why you would have known.
Sometimes I think I should just shave my head and get a load of facial
piercings to save people the disappointment when they find out.’

‘I’m not disappointed in you. It just surprises me,
that’s
all.’

She felt her body temperature rising and hoped it did not
show outwardly.

‘Why are you blushing?’

‘I’m not,’ she lied.

‘Yes, you are. Just tell me; I won’t be cross with you.’

‘It’s just that time in the bar when you came over to talk
to me, I thought that, I mean, were you...’

‘...trying to pick you up?’

Lucy now knew that she must have been bright red with
embarrassment. She could feel it in her cheeks and see it in her arms.

‘Don’t be scared,’ added
Emmy
.
‘I have extremely high standards. You can
definitely take it as a compliment.’

‘I understand that, but what made you think, I mean; do I
look gay?’

Emmy
laughed. She sat up straight
on the bed and looked directly at Lucy.

‘Nobody looks gay. Well, not unless they want to draw
attention to themselves in a particular way. I just saw you looking over at
me.’

‘That wasn’t because...’

‘...I know, I know. You recognised me from a photograph. I
realise that now. Your reputation is safe. Nobody thinks you’re a lesbian.’

Lucy looked down at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact.

‘There is something else, isn’t there?’ added
Emmy
. ‘I’m not the first to approach you, am I?’

Lucy thought back to Coober Pedy. At the time she had not
read anything into the situation, but now she thought about it; she had been
looking over at Anna first, perhaps inviting her attention.

‘About a week ago, I was in Coober Pedy. A couple of local
guys challenged me and a German girl to a game of pool. I thought she was
interested in them, but after the game, I found out that she wasn’t, if you
know what I mean.’

‘I know exactly what you mean. What was the name of the bar;
I shall have to pay it a visit sometime?’

‘This isn’t a joke.’

‘I never said it was.
How does it make you
feel; getting this kind of attention?’

‘I
dunno
. I guess I’m flattered by
it.’

‘That’s good.’

Lucy was not sure what to say next. An awkward silence
spread over the room and she knew she had to say something. It was strange, but
Emmy
no longer felt like a stranger to her. She never
had a gay friend before. In fact, she never really had any friends at all.
Growing up without a mother left her more dependent on her father and in turn,
him on her. There was never time for anything else. Her father wanted her to
move on and make friends and in a strange sort of way, he had already given
Emmy
his blessing.

‘When did you know?’ she asked.

‘That I was gay?’

Lucy nodded, awkwardly.

‘I suppose that in a way, I have always known. Boys just
never interested me. When I was twelve years old, I was sent on a school trip
to the city. The school could not afford to fly us there so we took the bus. It
was only a small minivan really and there was not room for us all to have
seats. That was just before they introduced legislation on seatbelts in road
vehicles. Everything takes a little longer to reach the bush.

‘I was one of the ones forced to share my seat. I had a girl
sitting on my lap. Her name was Kylie and she was in the year above me, but I
ended up on the bottom because I was quite a large kid for my age. It was fair
to say that I carried my share of the puppy fat. Anyway, it was a long drive
and we did not get many toilet stops. I was looking out of the window, minding
my business, when I started to feel something warm spread across my lap. I soon
realised it was coming from Kylie. She had wet herself and in doing so the pee
seeped right through her clothes and onto mine.

‘I think she never said anything because she was
embarrassed. I thought that if I spoke up, I would get her into trouble and
nobody wants to risk getting an older kid into trouble. She would have given me
a beating for sure, so I said nothing. The thing was - I actually kind of liked
it. I mean, not the pee; that was gross. It was more the sense of intimacy that
got me excited. For the first time in my young life I understood what it meant
to be turned on and I have never felt that way around a man.’